It’s Time to Care – for yourself
Sarah Knight, trainer and leadership coach, specialist in human skills and business mindset consultant provides her thoughts on wellbeing on this World Mental Health Day.
Mental health, wellbeing, being kind to yourself. Words, phrases, hashtags that are banded around so often these days.
Our knowledge around the subject (thankfully) is growing. We are more aware of the need to look after ourselves better. We know what burn out is – hec – some of us have struggled with the beast of burnout. The conversation around wellbeing is being normalised – there’s some great agencies out there doing some brilliant things.
But here’s the rub – how many of us are actually doing it? How many of us know what we should be doing but we think ‘we’ll do it tomorrow.’
How often do you write the Insta post telling people to be kind to themselves and yet don’t pause and do the same for yourself? How often do you cheerlead for others, for your friends, your colleagues, your peers but forget to cheerlead for yourself?
How often is there a training programme on at work or a lunchtime learning that you don’t have time for because you’re too busy?
So on this World Mental Health Day make a commitment to yourself – gift yourself 15 minutes to care for yourself a little bit better, to invest in yourself. Every. Single. Day.
Every day we make choices. We choose to press snooze on that alarm. We choose to show up for work, for our friends, for our family, for each other.
But when do you choose yourself? When do you choose you?
When do you show up for yourself? Taking care of yourself first means you are then in a better place to take care of all the other people that rely on you in your life.
YOU have to do the work. The key to mental wellbeing is to practice and build your toolkit when times are okay, when you’re thriving so that when you need dig deep to access that toolkit, to pull yourself through then you know what works, you know what to do because you have practiced and practiced again. And you have a better chance of it working because you are already looking after yourself.
Life is a matter of choices. Every choice you make, makes you. Don’t wait. Don’t say you’ll do something about it after the weekend, next week, next month.
Choose you right now.
And here’s some quick hints and tips to help you take care of yourself a bit better. It’s time to care. It’s time to care a bit better for yourself right now.
1. DO THE WORK
You have to plan your self-care. Whether you are writing a journal or simply gifting yourself a brew in peace, you have to plan it. Put it in a diary like a meeting. A meeting that cannot be moved. 15 minutes. Every day.
2. PURGE YOUR STRESS CYCLE
We have to purge your stress cycle every single day. You can do that by using your breath, getting outside, watching a feel good film, being with friends – but you need to be doing it every day.
3. PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESSION
It’s a journey. You don’t just wake up one day all namaste. You don’t suddenly know what you need in your mental wellbeing toolkit. You have to find what’s right for you. It may be journaling every morning, listening to a podcast, meditating, running on an early morning – but it takes a while to figure out what works – and then you have to practice it every single day until it becomes a ritual, a habit, part of your lifestyle, your thing.
4. THIS IS ME – AND THESE ARE MY FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND
We spend so much time looking at where we have got to get to, where we want to be, where we think we should be.
STOP. PAUSE. Look at how far you have come, look at what you have achieved. Sometimes we need to look at everything we have achieved rather than what we think we need to accomplish.
5. ARE YOU OKAY RIGHT NOW?
When things are starting to pile up ask yourself a question. Am I okay right now? In this second. In this moment in time. If the answer is yes, experience the next moment. Be present. Live in the now. Ignore the self-imposed worries of the future. Are you okay right now? (If the answer is no – ask for help. Right now.)
And finally, be kind to yourself.
Have a nap, forgive yourself, get under that duvet – choose you.
Sarah Knight has come on board as Brazen MENA’s life and wellbeing coach in 2021 to further promote wellbeing via a specially designed course and individual coaching using years of her expertise.
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